Change Giver
| Change Giver | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||||||||
| Studio album by Shed Seven | ||||||||||
| Released | 5 September 1994 | |||||||||
| Recorded | 1993–1994 at Greenhouse Studio, Old Street, London | |||||||||
| Genre | Rock, Britpop | |||||||||
| Length | 46:09 | |||||||||
| Label | Polydor | |||||||||
| Producer | Jessica Corcoran | |||||||||
| Shed Seven chronology | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Melody Maker | (Mixed) |
| Music Week | (4/5) |
| NME | (7/10) |
| Q | |
| Select |   |
| Volume | (Positive) |
| Vox | (7/10) |
Change Giver is the debut album by British rock band Shed Seven, released via Polydor Records on 5 September 1994. It was produced by Jessica Corcoran and was issued during the formative year of the britpop movement—a scene that dominated British alternative music in the mid-1990s.
The album was a moderate chart success in the UK, peaking at number 16 in the UK Albums Chart upon release, while three of the four singles taken from the album charted in the UK Top 40.
Formed in 1990, Shed Seven quickly gained a reputation for their live performances, having been banned from playing in a number of local music venues in their hometown of York, due to the "violent" nature of attendees at their gigs. They soon focused their attention on London, playing a handful of live shows in the city's smaller venues—including both the Rock Garden and Bull and Gate—to audiences featuring key members of the British music business, such as BBC Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq. In September 1993, they were voted the third best live band at London's Inner City Festival—the first time an unsigned act had placed in the top three—and appeared on BBC Radio 5's Hit The North programme. In the same month they also performed at Manchester's In The City music festival, where they were awarded third place in the convention's Best Unsigned Band contest. Their performance at the festival generated some national exposure, gaining them one of what would become a number of complimentary live reviews in the NME, with the magazine simply stating: "They are brilliant."
"We've had shit for signing to Polydor when everyone else does the same but on fake indies like Hi-Rise or whatever. We chose to put Polydor on the middle of our records – like The Who and The Jam, two of the best British bands ever. That's what we aspire to, not to some crap indie credibility."
Following the positive response to their in the City showcase performance, Shed Seven found themselves amid a record label bidding war, and eventually opted to sign a six-album major label deal with Polydor Records in October 1993. A support slot for the Inspiral Carpets soon followed, along with joint headline gigs with bands such as Compulsion and Elastica, as they were labelled "thrashy punk newcomers" and were associated with the short-lived New Wave of New Wave scene. Yet, by the time Change Giver was released five months later, they were seen in the British music press as being part of a vibrant, new movement in British music, spearheaded by acts like Suede, a band who had personally invited Shed Seven to open their gig at Blackpool's Tower Ballroom on 11 February 1994. Writing for The Guardian a month after the release of Change Giver, Caroline Sullivan summarised Shed Seven's role in the emergent scene, which was initially dubbed "lad-rock" and would later come to be known as britpop; "With Oasis achieving a number one album and Shed Seven being praised everywhere, the good old unambiguous British guitar band could be making a comeback. Like Oasis, this York band are defiantly heterosexual, and brimming with what in a previous day would have been called arrogance, and is now known as 'attitude'."
...
Wikipedia